


Love On Island Time

by Abbyloveslove



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 03, Renew Anne with an E, Season 3 Finale, Sneaking Around
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22947733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbyloveslove/pseuds/Abbyloveslove
Summary: Anne and Gilbert's first summer back from college after the events of 3x10. Pretty much all fluff and making out in different places around Avonlea. It's a mega lovey-dovey honeymoon period. No drama, pure fluff. Canon compliant.Hanging out at green gables, in the woods, in the barns...fluff everywhere and anywherePicnics by the lake of shining waters, dancing, flirting galore.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley, Shirbert - Relationship
Comments: 26
Kudos: 132





	1. Chapter 1

After an unusually cool spring on the island, there was a warmth in the air that June afternoon as a redheaded girl stepped onto the platform in Carmody. She placed her trunk down as she adjusted the long skirts that she still was not quite adjusted to wearing. How she had longed to be this age, to be a woman elegantly standing in the juniper scented breeze carrying her parasol. Oh, how it gave her a thrill. Although being back in the countryside gave her a greater thrill. She had missed this, being able to look to the horizon and see nothing but rows of trees with stories older than Aunt Jo’s. If that were indeed possible.

Anne had been counting down the days until they broke for the summer harvest at Queens. She had been receiving several letters a week for the past year from Gilbert. How she had longed to see him all spring. She had made up her mind that despite what Marilla said about the hour, she would ride to the Blythe house that very evening. She’d waited for him for years, it would be silly to do it any longer. She could already hear Rachael Lynde’s nagging about tact.

Now if only she could find Matthew and Belle. Anne walked down the stairs of the platform and scanned the dirt road for the familiar horse and Matthew’s even familiar smile.

“Miss Shirley-Cuthbert, may I have the privilege of taking your trunk?” came a voice that still sent a happy chill down her back. She whipped her head around so fast that a muscle issued a stabbing pain in her neck. Anne reached up to rub her neck, a wide grin pulling at her lips.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, his eyes gleaming mischievously. Slowly his eyes took in her face and filled with a soft, fond emotion. For some reason, he shook his head as if there was something he couldn’t quite believe. There wasn’t much distance between them, but Anne dropped her parasol and flung herself into his arms. Gilbert laughed, a sound that at one time had been rare. Now it was as common as the chirping of birds in the spring mornings. He buried his head in her hair and inhaled deeply as she glued herself to him. Anne could hardly believe that she had been around Gilbert Blythe for so many years and controlled herself. Gilbert to her was like the island, something she didn’t know she was missing within herself. Loving him gave her the same rush that she had gotten when Matthew had pulled the carriage into the red road of Green Gables that September. An unparalleled truth became known to her, as it had many years ago, that there was no going back now. Some places become your forever homes. She had known it that chilly afternoon years ago at Green Gables and she knew it now, wrapped in the arms of the only boy she had ever loved.

Gilbert pulled back a little and whispered: “Carrots, you have no idea how much I’ve missed you. You look ravishingly beautiful, as usual”

He took her chin and pressed a soft, warm kiss on her lips. Anne sighed. Kissing Gilbert Blythe should be illegal. Ruby was right, he was not only the most studious but also the most romantic. Gilbert committed himself to kissing Anne with the same amount of fervor he did his studies. She did wonder how in the world he did this. He caused all thoughts to disappear from her mind and turned her into the Jelly that graced Marilla’s pantry shelf. Anne poured all of the weeks of missing him into that kiss. One of her hands slid behind him into his impossibly lush curls while the other had a mind of its own. She kissed him harder as her hand stroked his jaw. As they broke apart, Anne noticed that they had drawn some attention with some ladies tsking by the counter. She blushed as she thought about what Marilla would have to say about this.

“If it makes you that happy to see me, I should have kissed you a lot sooner” Gilbert winked. Anne rolled her eyes at him and smacked him lightly on the arm.

“If you recall, I did endure 4 years of your company without a single kiss”

Gilbert took her hand and pulled it to his chest, right above his heart “this is true, I have a lot to make up for over this summer. You may take that as a promise”

Anne had never heard anything better


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's get into that fluff, shall we. Anne and Gilbert spend an afternoon flirting and hanging out in the woods that gave birth to the storybook club.

Anne swatted a fly away from her arm as she leaned back against the fallen tree. Oh, how invigorating it was to be back in the woods, her woods that gave birth to the storyclub house. As much as she loved attending Queens with its endless library stacked to the brim with books, this serenity was missing from her life. The calm that was the essence of the island. She had woken up at the crack of dawn to assist Matthew with milking prejudice. Marilla had found her a couple of hours later and tsked her tongue as she saw her elbow-deep in a stack of hay. She was instructed to take the afternoon off chores on account of her just having finished a set of rather challenging exams. She had told Marilla that she would have a grand day with just her and her imagination. Of course, that is if her imagination was a handsome, black-haired boy. 

So here Anne was getting started on some light reading for the next semester as she waited for Gilbert to come to find her. Bash most likely needed a hand with the fence that had gotten damaged in the last storm, she thought disappointedly. She flipped another worn-out page. It was then she heard quiet footsteps coming from the other side of the clearing along with an upbeat humming. Gilbert had his sleeves rolled up today and was wearing his trusty newsboy cap. She had seen plenty of boys at Queens wearing them, but there was something so alluring in the nonchalant way this boy wore his. 

He dropped down on the grass next to her. So closely that you couldn’t slide her textbook between them. He handed her a small bouquet of wildflowers she hadn’t seen him carrying.

The petals were made of small white clusters, they were queen Anne’s lace. Before Gilbert, no one had ever brought her flowers before. She was the one that had been the flower gather in her family and amongst her friends. Anne had slowly become accustomed to being on the receiving end of a bouquet. The first cornflowers Gilbert had brought her had caused her eyes to well up, much to Gilbert’s shock. He had thought he had offended her greatly and started apologizing profusely. She had to do some work to soothe his worries away. They were both becoming familiar with these small, frequent declarations of love. It shocked her how each day made her heart swell further with this overwhelming tide of love for this boy. It scared her how each and every corner of her heart now contained a piece of Gilbert. A piece for when he asked Matthew and Marilla’s permission to formally court her. A piece for how he treated Jerry like a brother because that’s who he was to Anne. Pieces for his love for delphine, the way his hair stuck up in the front when he fell asleep on his textbook, how he waited on the steps outside the boarding house twenty minutes before he was allowed to enter. 

Gilbert now took one of the stems of the flower and tucked it behind her ear, playing with the end of a loose hair as he pulled away. Finally satisfied with his arrangement, he made himself comfortable against the scratchy wood of the old log. Anne turned slightly and kissed the corner of his upturned mouth in greeting. You certainly couldn’t do this in letters.

Gilbert was now staring at her intensely, his eyes twinkling in the mid-June sunlight. Anne blushed and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “everything alright?” she asked, suddenly feeling rather shy. 

Gilbert answered by turning his body so that his long legs stretched out parallel to the log. He lowered his torso back to the ground, his head of inky black hair coming to rest perfectly in her lap. He closed his eyes contentedly, looking so perfectly at peace. Over the years she had seen many expressions on his face: frustration, passion, sadness and yes even love. But peace was a new emotion that grazed Gilbert Blythe’s face the first summer of the new century. 

“You know when I was younger, I used to think you were this nymph of the woods” he said matter of factly, his eyes still closed. Anne laughed, bringing her hand to comb through his inky black hair in her lap. It ran through her hands like soft butter. 

“And why is that?” she inquired 

“You always showed up to Mr. Phillips’ classes with flowers in your hat, like a crown of wildflowers. Even in the dead of winter. And then when you took off your hat in the cloakroom, little petals would fall on the floor like a trail. In the dark days of winter when there was little life in the woods, I imagined you were hard at work preparing for the spring. Waiting, preparing for the woods to come alive again.” He paused and inhaled “It gave me hope…that winter when I lost my father.”

Anne’s hands stilled in his hair, her mind going back to that winter. She reminded herself that he was safe in her arms now, she just wished she could have done the same for the younger boy. “I was scared for you,” she told him now “I knew what it was like to have no one in this world to call your own, to have your last piece of hope torn away. And then you always acted strong, as you had to for your father. I wished there was something I could have said to comfort you, but clearly that was not the case”

Gilbert laughed, sounding unburdened despite the heaviness of the topic. He took her hand and kissed it lovingly “don’t worry my love, I understood. And now look I’ve gone and made you sad?” He sat up from her lap, cupping her face gently in his hands. “You have,” he said as he kissed her forehead. He kissed her nose “always been” and then her mouth “there for me”. He pulled away slightly “Even when you didn’t know it”. 

Anne didn’t know the comfort Gilbert’s words would bring her until he had said them. How strange that this boy knew her so well. She looked into his eyes, so thankful that fate had brought them together. “I thought I was the luckiest girl in the world, that day when Matthew brought me to Green Gables. I wish I could tell that girl at the orphanage what the world would hold for her. That I would know love in so many ways. That I would be so lucky as to be loved by you” she told him, shaking her head slightly. 

Gilbert pressed his forehead against hers, their hands intertwined in his lap. He touched his nose against her’s fondly. “Nice attempt at trying to pull ahead of me, we both know who the lucky one is” he joked. Anne laughed, throwing her head back. Gilbert pulled her face towards his as he kissed her, both of them smiling through the open kisses. Anne wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him even closer and her hands pulled at the hair at the nape of his neck. Gilbert made a sound she hadn’t heard before. It made her want to pull him even closer if that were possible. The kiss heated and Anne’s cheeks flushed as Gilbert pulled gently at her bottom lip. Anne returned the favor twofold, moving away to kiss his neck. Gilbert inhaled sharply. 

He sighed and then pulled away “Miss Shirley as much as I wish to further this experiment, I must say that I hold my virtue and reputation very dearly”. Anne blushed, her cheeks becoming as red as the tomatoes growing at Green Gables. Gilbert laughed and wrapped his arms around her loosely. 

***

They spent the rest of the afternoon completely absorbed in one another. Anne had eventually picked up her textbook again, with Gilbert laying his head in her lap once more. He had a book on the cardiovascular system propped upon his knee. That was until a few moments ago when he had forgone that endeavor in favor of staring up and her and playing with the ends of her hair instead. “Gilbert” she said in a mock strict voice “shouldn’t you be studying the cardiovascular system, think of your future patients”

Gilbert wrapped a tendril of her hair around his finger “Oh trust me I am definitely becoming educated on matters of the heart this fine afternoon”. Anne raised an eyebrow at him. “If they wish, I can even provide a tip or two” he said with a wink. 

“God you are so infuriating. You’re lucky I love you so much.” she said as she kissed his forehead. She supposed he had the entire summer to study the heart. Anne put aside her book


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get heated in the Barn...ooo la la. Aren't these two supposed to be working?

The straw scratched the back of Anne's neck as Gilbert pressed her against the pile of hay conveniently located in the upper, forgotten regions of the Green Gables Barn. The cherry harvest had just begun at the farm this past week and her black haired boy had shown up dutifully in the early morning to ask Marilla what he could do to assist. Anne had been unceremoniously sent to the barn to see whether she could fix the rung that had snapped on one of the older ladders. Having finished their own apple harvest a few weeks ago, Gilbert Blythe found himself with a tad too much time on his hands. Had this been any other summer Anne was sure he would have gladly spent this extra time with his splendid nose buried in his medical textbooks. And so he had swaggered into the barn a few hours later with his sleeves rolled up. Anne was crouched with one foot against the wooden rail as she tried to pull the wooden rung off by throwing her entire weight in the other direction.

The ladder was forgotten as she took in how...well... how delicious Gilbert looked with his hair mussed and his tanned forearms which popped against the white of his rolled-up shirt. Anne let her eyes lazily look him up and down, because well she could. He had always been undeniably beautiful, but Anne couldn't help but notice how over the last year Gilbert had really filled out, the last vestiges of boyhood fading as his cheekbones became even sharper and his shirt strained against the muscles of his upper arms. How truly roguish he looked, leaning against the barn door with his arms crossed and a suggestive look in his eyes as he smugly enjoyed her taking him in. He tilted his head slightly and winked, almost as a challenge. If one thing defined them as a couple, even before they were a couple was their competitive streak. Anne could do one better. She lowered her eyes to the hay covered barn floor, only to raise them slowly as she looked at him through her eyelashes. For a little extra kick, she bit the corner of her lip slightly. Gilbert froze, he clearly hadn't been expecting that as the smug smile faded from his mouth, only to be replaced by a fiery look in his eyes. That look alone could light infernos. Anne's face heated up to ungodly levels as he stared at her with a certifiably indecent look. She had never thought anybody would look at her with that, let alone Gilbert Blythe. What an odd, wonderful world it was.

And so it had been that look that had caused Gilbert's weight to be pressed against her as her mouth moved feverishly against his in the hay littered corner of the barn's loft. Gilbert groaned and pulled away slightly, closing his eyes as Anne moved up his neck with flaming hot kisses.

"Seriously, what were we doing all those years fighting over spelling Iogorrhea and engagement," he said in a dazed voice as Anne moved her mouth from his neck to his jaw "when there are so many other activities of interest"

Anne laughed as she gasped to catch her breath "from what you've told me, Mr. Blythe, it appears you would most likely have had cardiac arrest had these so-called activities taken place a few years ago."

Gilbert opened his mouth to probably deliver a cheeky remark but before he could, Anne had fisted the top of his shirt and pulled him back down over her. Never to be left behind in any sort of achievement, Gilbert slid his tongue languidly, almost expertly into her mouth as his arm snaked around her waist to press her closer. One of them was going to stop soon, an unmarked line having been toed recently, with both determined to see how far they could get before the other broke away. A battle of the wills, you could say. Anne deepened the kiss, sliding her tongue against his and was quickly rewarded by a groan. Gilbert, however, still didn't pull away much to her surprise. This was turning out to be a very productive and satisfying afternoon for Anne. Gilbert kissed the hollow of her neck softly, almost reverently, eliciting a moan from her as he moved up to nuzzle her earlobe. Anne felt as if her mind was short-circuiting, she couldn't put together a single coherent thought. She gasped as she pulled Gilbert back to her mouth, Anne could feel the corners of his mouth tilting upwards against hers. That was until she pulled at his bottom lip with her teeth, wrapping one leg around the bottom of his to press him closer. Gilbert sat up suddenly, tapping out. He sat with his arms draped over his knees, his chest heaving as if he had run a marathon. Anne was hardly one to comment as she groaned and let her head fall back against the scratchy hay that had slipped inside her dress. She stared at the wooden rafters of the barn waiting for her breathing to level. She sighed dreamily and turned her eyes to Gilbert who was looking at her with what seemed like a fondness that was ever-present within the depths of his dark eyes. Her heart slowed as she held his gaze, her chest filling with soft overflowing warmth. A warmth that was burning at times, but at this moment it threatened to swallow her with its steady calmness and depth. 

Gilbert lay down next to her on his side, his head propped on his arm. He pulled some hay out from what must be her insanely disheveled hair, all the while holding her gaze softly.

"Hey" he whispered, his voice as soft as his gaze.

"Hey" Anne whispered back, reaching up to softly caress the side of his face.

Gilbert smiled, looking so at peace as he pulled her hand from his face and held it against his heart. "I love you, Anne Shirley. And I will love you until I die, and if there's a life after that, well I'll love you then too" he said with this with so much truth in his voice that Anne almost sobbed. Her eyes teared. She had known love in her life these past few years, more love than she thought one person knew what to do within this lifetime. But her heart was overcome with fear of how desperately she had come to love Gilbert Blythe in such a short time. It wasn't a short time though, this feeling had been growing quietly but strongly in the corners of her heart for many years before it overfilled at the corners and flooded every room of what had once been the guarded Manor of her heart. 

"When I was younger deep down I never thought I could be loved. Don't get me wrong, my imagination filled the gaps of disbelief but that fear always lurked. I know I'm selfish, and I make mistakes all the time. God knows I can stick my foot in my mouth. To have you as my best friend, to have you know every corner of my soul and decide you still want me?" Anne looked into his eyes, overcome with emotion "Gilbert I-"

She thought about how this only happens once in a lifetime, to find somebody that understood the deepest parts of what it is that made you, _you_. 

Gilbert hung on to her every word, his eyes dancing with laughter and mischief as he realized that Anne Shirley was at a loss of words. He simply wrapped her in his arms, his chin resting on top of her head. She had told Gilbert things that she had never dared to share with another soul, he had heard these things and wanted to know more. He knew her deepest desires, her oddest fears, her goals achieved, her disappointments unheard. At Queens when something amazing had happened to her, he was the first person she couldn't wait to run home and tell. Gilbert had cried with her, he had laughed with her. There were things that maybe wouldn't mean a lot to many people, like a letter telling her about his new roommate or the song he hummed when he was happy. These things she tucked away safe in her heart, determined to cherish them eternally. Things like medical research that had never interested her before became important to her because they were important to him. She let her heart be open, knowing that if it were hurt she may not ever be able to piece herself together in quite the same way. But she also knew this, that he would never do anything to hurt her, just as she couldn't dream of doing so to him. Now she knew: love, it will not betray you, dismay you or enslave you, it will set you free. 

"I..." She tried to continue as she was enveloped with Gilbert's comforting sandalwood and pine smell, determined to have him know exactly what it is she meant. 

"I know, I know Anne Shirley Cuthbert. You think my eyes are so dreamy, that it is I who hung the stars in the sky, you swoon at the sight of me" he said in a playful voice that suggested he was reporting the obvious. 

Anne stood up, brushing the leftover hay from her green dress. She walked to the center of the loft, gathered a pile of hay in her arms and laughed as she unceremoniously dumped it over Gilbert's head. She squealed and ran across the room as Gilbert got up and chased after her tossing bits of hay right back at her. 

Gilbert imitated Mrs. Lynde's voice "Oh our Anne has matured so much since she first came to Green Gables, a proper lady she has been made"

"Bite me, Doctor Blythe" Anne said in a sing-song voice. 

Gilbert finally caught her around the waist and spun her around like she weighed nothing "I would love to take you up on that". Anne laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck as her feet left the ground as he turned them. 


End file.
